Australia continued....

It seem to have been an age since I last posted (22 days in fact!), and that period of time has been extremely action-packed. In this post I shall cover our drive from Sydney to Noosa Heads (just north of Brisbane) and then our time in Brisbane.

We left Sydney on the 19th July and headed north up to the seaside town of Port Macquarie for the night. We stopped off in Newcastle on the way, where I saw my first Jabiru (now officially known as the Black-necked Stork) of the trip. This bird is truly enormous, with a wingspan of over two metres, and it was fantastic to see one fly low over the car just as we entered the city. The road north from Newcastle was fantastic for raptors, as Little Eagles became a regular sight and Black-shouldered Kites replaced Nankeen Kestrels as the most common roadside bird of prey. Straw-necked and Australian White Ibises, Cattle Egrets and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were also abundant along the road.

It was early evening by the time we arrived in Port Macquarie I had time to see my first Eastern Rosellas, a fantastically-colourful parrot, and Spangled Drongo of the trip. It was nice to see a large number of Black-faced Cuckooshrikes around the town as well. We also enjoyed fantastic views of these Straw-necked Ibises feeding on the town's rugby pitch:

 

Straw-necked Ibises, Port Macquarie

The next day involved more driving, as we headed up to Byron Bay, a great seaside town near the border with Queensland. On the way, we stopped off in Yamma, where I saw a number of interesting bird species. A large flock of Magpie Geese were in a field just outside the town. The species apparently diverged from other Geese and Ducks some 70 million years ago, and is consequently extremely unusual and has been placed in its own family. It is endemic to Australia and southern New Guinea and is one of a fantastically-high number of unusual species found in this country. 

Nearby were several Royal Spoonbills feeding in a roadside ditch and my second ever Brahminy Kite was seen flying over the same area. Its white head and nape combined with its bright rufous body made for a wonderful sight. New South Wales is right in the south of its large range, which extends north and west to India. Sacred Kingfisher and Pied Butcherbird were other new species for the trip seen nearby. In Yamma itself, I found an Australasian Darter. The species is in the genus Anhinga, which comes from the Tupi (an ancient South American language) word for devil. There is something about rather prehistoric about the species's appearance- especially when it is drying its wings. Sadly I couldn't take a picture of this close relative of the Cormorant family. A Blue-faced Honeyeater was a nice bird to see in the carpark nearby. It is very much distinct in appearance from the other 75 or so species of Honeyeater found in Australia, with its bright green back and blue face combined with its black neck and white front creating quite a spectacle. Again, my photographic skills were failing me as I failed to capture a shot of this as well. Offshore were a large number of Australian Gannets, Crested Terns and Silver Gulls and one Eastern Osprey flew past, a species which is also a pleasure to see. One final new bird for the trip at Yamma was a group of Silvereyes (confusingly a species of White-eye) in the coastal scrub.

In the evening, I finally managed to identify one of the large number of Shearwaters feeding just off the beach at Byron Bay. It was a Fluttering Shearwater, a species I had previously only seen in New Zealand. A sea-watch from our hotel balcony was a nice way to end the day, though the only other birds seen were Australian Gannets, Crested Terns and Silver Gulls.

We spent the next day wandering around Byron Bay. It really is a fantastic place. Just behind the beach, I found a large number of Lewin's Honeyeaters:

 

Lewin's Honeyeater, Byron Bay

It soon transpired that the area was teeming with Honeyeaters, on top of the Lewin's there White-cheeked Honeyeaters everywhere and huge numnbers of Noisy Miners and Little Wattlebirds. I also saw a new species for me, a Brown Honeyeater. I really cannot understand how I managed to spend about three months of my life in Australia before seeing one- they are extremely common and since my first one it seems like almost every small bird I have seen has been one!

 Brown Honeyeater, Byron Bay

There were several Scaled Lorikeets among the numerous flocks of Rainbow Lorikeets. Sadly I couldn't photograph any of them. Torresian Crows were also common. The Crow situation in Australia is quite strange- there are five virtually-identical species and in most areas there seems to be just one dominant species. In Melbourne, it was the Little Raven, then heading north from there, it became the Australian Raven, before turning to the Torresian Crow from there onwards

The day's birding highlight was an Australian Brushturkey standing on someone's garden fence:

Australian Brushturkey, Byron Bay

What a beast! The species is very common around Byron, and they were a frequent sight in gardens and next to roadsides as they rather furiously dug at mounds they had built. I found this behaviour rather intriguing and decided to find out what was causing it. The Wildlife Quuensland website provided me with the answer- the females dig a nest into the mound to lay their eggs in, before the male covers the nest and then checks the temperature inside using heat sensors on his beak to ensure the eggs are at their optimum temperautre. The chicks then hatch underground and spend 40 hours digging themselves out.

The only bird of note the next day, which we spent exploring the countryside around Byron, besides numerous Brushturkies, was my first Tree Martin of the trip. I did, however, get a nice view of some Eastern Cattle Egrets in optimum Cattle Egret habitat:

 Eastern Cattle Egrets, near Byron Bay. There is also a Willie Wagtail on top of the cow.

There was a very clear highlight of the day. It came when visited Lennox Head, just south of Byron. Looking out to sea, there was a great deal of seabird activity, and soon a cetacean appeared. Looking through my scope, it turned out to be a Killer Whale. WOW!!!! This was one of the mammals I most wanted to see, so it caused great excitement. Sadly my views of it were only good enough to confirm its identity. Later on, we saw a pod of unidentified Bottlenose Dolphins just offshore from Byron.

Australian Brushturkey, Byron Bay

The next day we drove up to Noosa Heads, another great seaside town approximately an hour and a half from Brisbane. On the way, I saw a Topknot Pigeon and my first ever Australian Pipit near the roadside. We arrived in Noosa in the early afternoon and found that, like Byron, the town had a huge population of Brushturkeys:

 Australian Brushturkey on the main street in Noosa

We drove up to Noosa Heads NP to view the town from above. What an incredible setting:

Noosa

I saw my first ever Noisy Friarbird here, a truly evil-looking beast with a red eye and completely bald head. Sadly I couldn't take a photograph. Grey Fantails and Willie Wagtails were also common in this area.

The next day, we drove back down to Brisbane for a five day stay. On the way, I found a new species for me- the stunning Grey Goshawk, which was perched very close to the car during a roadside stop. On top of that, I saw my first Black Kites of the trip, feeding over a rubbish tip along with hundreds of Torresian Crows, Australian White Ibises and, rather unexpectedly, Australian Pelicans. Earlier, I had found my first Rainbow Bee-eaters and White-breasted Woodswallows, a close relative of the corvids, of the trip at our hotel in Noosa, along with several Purple Swamphens, Pacific Black Ducks and a Hardhead.

The next day, we visited Mount Coot-tha to view the city of Brisbane from above:

Brisbane

A Laughing Kookaburra was posed perfectly just below the bottom of the picture above:

 Laughing Kookaburra, Brisbane

A Striated Pardalote and numerous Lorikeets and Friarbirds were also seen, as was what was likely a Rose Robin, which would have been a new species for me, but views were too brief for confirmation.

We also took a cruise to view the city from the river. It was also a good opportunity to see some river birds and along with numerous Silver Gulls, Little Black Cormorants and Australian Pelicans were several Gull-billed and Caspian Terns.

Caspian Tern and six Gull-billed Terns with Silver Gulls, Brisbane

These two tern species are nearly cosmopolitan in their distribution across the world- but absent from Britain except as vagrants. It is the third country that I have seen a Caspian Tern in this year (after Morocco and UAE). It is fantastic to see one of these enormous beasts right in the middle of a city.
On the cruise, I also got to enjoy fantastic views of a Brahminy Kite:

 Brahminy Kite, Brisbane

Little Black Cormorant on what is seemingly a well-used perch....

After the cruise, we visited the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens. There wasn't exactly an abundance of birds present, but seeing these wonderful Buff-banded Rails so close was fantastic:

Buff-banded Rails, Brisbane. What a fantastic bird to have right in the city centre.

I also saw my first Mallard of the trip. This species has been introduced to Australia and has feral populations across much of the southeast. 

Mallard, Brisbane

The other ducks present were Pacific Black Ducks (a large number of these) and a Hardhead. There were many Dusky Moorhens around the park, this one was taking a shower under a fountain:

Dusky Moorhen, Brisbane

Inevitably, Australian White Ibises were once more abundant in the gardens. They are literally everywhere with any form of water nearby that I have visited on this trip.

Australian White Ibis, Brisbane

Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Australasian Figbirds, Australian Magpies and Noisy Miners (probably the most common bird in Brisbane?) were especially abundant in the park, as were Pied Currawongs and Grey Butcherbirds.

Grey Butcherbird, Brisbane

It was nice to see an Australasian Darter on a post on the river just off the gardens:

Australasian Darter, Brisbane

For me, the highlight of the visit to the gardens was the sight of several Little Red Flying Foxes cruising around the park. What an incredible creature to have in the middle of a city.

I really enjoyed visiting Brisbane, and I will be back as I am intending to study at the University of Queensland in the city (I just need to get in!).

After Brisbane, we flew to Darwin and then on to Kununurra, where we set off on an adventure through the outback along the Gibb River Road. I will blog about that next....